by Angela White
Gunshots rang out from Zone C.
Adrian retreated a bit, providing a better shield for the cage. He gave Kyle a harsh glare that the Eagle responded to with a curt nod. It was time to go in.
When Kyle sent a signal to the men on the rafters, Angela didn’t interfere. The sun was setting, which meant she would have only had time for a few more evaluations anyway. Once the crowd realized the day’s assigning was over, it would get unruly–more so than what it already had been. Angela made a note for the Eagles to remind people over the speakers to lock their gates and doors, and to post patrols against the crowd of men and women in and around Zone C. Eagles were not coming back out here. Neither was she.
Another gunshot echoed, drawing attention and fear.
Adrian raised his rifle and took aim. He no longer had to worry over his herd’s approval or wait for orders. He opened fire at the group charging toward the gate and the soldiers around him did the same.
The Eagles followed Marc’s strict instructions for a possible moment like this. They tackled the boss and waited for him to arrive.
Angela was yanked from the cage and shoved down, then covered with heavy bodies. As they piled on top of her, all the vests provided layers of protection that she accepted gratefully as more gunfire echoed. Even muffled, she recognized the sound and stayed still under her guards, as that distinctive noise grew louder. Her arm was curled over her stomach bump and she smiled. Daddy’s coming.
5
“Leave it open and watch your line of fire!” Marc ordered as he and Kenn hurried through the gate.
Marc did a fast scan and found a body-pile of firing Eagles, with Adrian and his men surrounding them. Marc went that way, shooting at the advancing group of refugees he assumed had been refused entry. He shot the closest man and then did the same to the woman behind him. The bodies fell together as Marc aimed for another charging, shooting, screaming target.
“Get inside!” Kenn shouted, and fired at two women aiming for Adrian. He got them both, but missed the man behind them who fired. The bullet tore into Daryl’s shoulder and punched through to slam into the gate.
“Son of a bitch!” Marc’s face was splattered with Daryl’s blood and he shot the offender in the throat as the man charged forward.
“Get inside!” Kenn and the Eagles on the gate shouted.
Their outside team did as they were told, rising from the body pile as Eagles on the inside helped Daryl down from the rafters.
Angela was yanked up and shoved into arms she had never thought to feel again. Even in the din, her skin came to life at the contact, trying to draw from him.
Adrian held her tightly, spinning so that he was between her and the gunfire that continued to blast across the area. Another large group that she’d denied had chosen to join the battle and more were doing the same. The other two zones had locked their gates, but tents were little protection from bullets.
Adrian stepped inside the gates and put Angela on her feet. His hand clutched hers in a jolt of energy that soaked in for a brief second and then he was gone.
“Hey! He can’t go back out–”
Adrian slid out as the gate was slamming shut, ending Kenn’s protest.
Gunfire continued to echo as Angela hurried Daryl toward the medical bay. She hadn’t expected things to go so crazy so quickly. She was very glad Jennifer had already been inside.
“Nice!” Kenn exclaimed, watching from the rafters. “They’re leaving!”
The Eagles cheered as Adrian and his men continued to pick off the people who had started the fight. Others who had considered joining the fray now cowered at Adrian’s fury. He was astounded that Marc had let her outside the gate and he took his anger out on anyone he considered a threat, ‘accidentally’ firing into Zone C to lessen that remaining population as well. He wasn’t a member of Safe Haven. He didn’t have to play by the rules.
The Eagles observed the slaughter in admiration that would have bothered Adrian and Angela had they been aware of it. The war had changed everything.
Angela led Daryl to an empty cot to sit down while she and the doctor worked on his arm, expecting Marc’s reprimand at any point. He’d been on her heels since Adrian set her down in the bloody slush. She could have let one of their medical supervisors handle Daryl, but her guilt wouldn’t allow that. She’d known having people outside the gate wasn’t a good idea, but she couldn’t refuse everyone who came. Some of those sheep are mine!
“Angie.”
Marc’s tone said he was livid. She lowered her head as she cleaned Daryl’s wound. “I’m sorry.”
“You told me you wouldn’t be out there long. You said the Eagles would keep everyone away. You said you’d viewed the entire day and nothing happened.” He glared. “So what happened?”
“I needed a good reason to bar our doors to new people for a little while,” she confessed. “I didn’t see the shootout, though. I also didn’t see him coming back early. Darian must have been an easy target.”
A few cots over, Chauncey began laughing. He had been brought here, under guard, until Angela decided what to do with him. She hadn’t had time to go over Jennifer’s report–she was dreading it– but spending time in the drafty brig wasn’t healthy. She hadn’t decided what would happen to him yet.
“What’s so funny?” Marc demanded of the Keeper, noting the books near his side. The man liked to read about the ocean or he’d heard of Angela’s plans and assumed he would be along.
“It’s amusing that she trusts the one who is out there killing so many, but not the one he was assigned.”
“Are you saying Darian isn’t dead?” Marc demanded when Angela froze.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Chauncey taunted, chuckling. “I have him on my radar, bright and hot.”
Angela’s rage swarmed over the man, effectively shutting down his mirth. He went still and quiet as she pinned him with a harsh glare.
Where are they? Tell me right now! she demanded silently, needing the confirmation of Darian’s location.
Suddenly terrified that he wasn’t going to survive this captivity, Chauncey spilled his guts without more prompting. Safe Haven people were truly ruthless. It was too bad they insisted on being the good guys. They excelled at many of the skills the other side required.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Population Boom
1
Safe Haven wasn’t happy.
There was a mob on their doorstep. It was cold, but they were afraid to go back into the cave. The Mickey Mouse boots and fleece layering was protection, but not comfort or security. Daryl had been shot. They’d had a cave-in. Their gate had been attacked repeatedly. It wasn’t the peaceful mountain living that they had envisioned and with every negative thing that happened, the herd grew more uneasy. They’d been waiting for Angela to take care of things the way she had been since assuming the mantle of command, but now, the camp had had enough. As soon as they stepped from the medical bay, Marc and Angela were surrounded by angry members demanding that she do something.
Angela knew what they wanted, but denied the renewed requests to use magic. “Some of those people belong here. We have to try to get a few more.”
“I say we take a vote!” Li called from the rear of the small crowd. “Let camp decide.”
Yes! Angela gloated inwardly. Outwardly, she shrugged coolly. “That’s the right of every person here. During lunch mess okay for you?”
Surprised by her acceptance, Li tried to apologize, by saying, “It’s just, there’s so many! You know? Barely have enough to feed those here.”
It was a pivotal point for any refugee camp–reaching a population limit–but it was also heartbreaking to realize there wasn’t enough of everything to go around for that many people. Not until a true settlement could be built, anyway. Once that happened, Angela planned to expand their numbers as much as she could, but the masses outside their gates right now were almost useless. From constant killing to procure food and ammun
ition, to rapes and fanatical control–they were trouble she couldn’t allow in. Tonight’s meeting would cover it.
And more, Angela thought tiredly. I have yet another bombshell to drop.
Marc led Angela toward the cave, knowing that’s where she wanted everyone to be tonight. So did he. If the gates were overwhelmed, the cave was where they would make a stand. Marc agreed wholeheartedly with closing their gates to more people. They’d already taken in over two hundred refugees since coming to these mountains, and each day, the food portions had shrunk. Things were tight and it would get worse.
As they went to the cave, a few people followed, including guards. They also knew the camp needed to get below and they began telling members to collect their things and come along. It wasn’t a hard choice for most of the people to make when they saw Marc and Angela heading down. The sounds from the zones were loud and ugly and before long, there was a steady stream of people going into the cave with their gear.
“There will be an emergency meeting during lunch mess,” Tonya informed everyone over the radio. “Attendance is mandatory. Those on duty will turn radios off to keep this meeting private. You will be filled in at the end of your shifts. Use the alarms if there’s a problem. Everyone else is required to attend.”
Tonya’s words had a calming effect on Safe Haven’s people–one that Angela knew would allow them time to consider what they wanted to say. She already had her own lines picked, but there was always the chance of a wildcard being tossed in. That had been one of Adrian’s most common notes in his books.
Watch out for the wildcard. You can’t plan for it, but it can destroy everything.
Angela had taken that to heart and developed secondary plans for the meeting. She was controlling hundreds of people now, manipulating them into doing what they should have already known to do and it was exhilarating. It was also exhausting. She was anticipating a long boat ride where she might have time to straighten out her personal life. She was tired of being avoided and as soon as this mountain farce was over, she would try to repair her relationship with Charlie. She’d come across this country for him and that love hadn’t diminished with her leadership. In fact, it had made her more determined to take these people to a place where he could finish growing up in peace. That wouldn’t happen here. The United States was now a death trap that few would escape unharmed.
2
“You’re up.” Angela gestured for Kenn to go to the front of the meeting area that now held the majority of their herd. The tables had been traded for holding plates in hand as they all stood around listening to the angry refugees shouting and fighting above them.
Kenn scowled. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Angela stared coolly. She was assuming Adrian had given him details, but she didn’t think it mattered. Kenn was the mouthpiece of Safe Haven. He knew what she needed.
Kenn slowly walked to the front of the wary crowd, able to hear his steps echoing on the rocky ground. He had limited information, but he knew he didn’t want to be the one up there taking the heat.
“That was mean.”
Angela shrugged at Jennifer’s comment. With Kenn, she preferred to use what did work, not what might. He wasn’t someone you could give leniency to most days.
Kenn took the microphone from the stand and the softly muttering people quieted expectantly. He cleared his throat, thinking the acoustics down here were awful for being a cave. He’d always thought they echoed no matter where you stood, but that wasn’t the case.
“This is an emergency meeting. We have more trouble coming our way and the boss has insisted that everyone be informed and have time to make their own choices.”
“Must be something big,” Peggy called out, not glancing at Doug as he stood security duty near the Marine. She was still avoiding him. She would until the next step in her plans with Hilda had been taken.
Kenn nodded, sighing. “That’s what I figured too, when I heard emergency meeting. Seems like we can’t ever get a break, you know?”
Some of Angela’s council frowned, but she approved. Kenn knew how to get them venting before his boss took center stage. That was what a mouthpiece did–manipulated the crowd into the right mood to hear the news, whatever it was.
“We’ve survived all of it so far,” Cynthia stated casually. “We’ll survive this.”
Many people added their agreement and the tension went down a tiny notch. Knowing they had so much magic was indeed a comfort…as long as they didn’t think about it too hard.
“We’ll hear it from her in a minute, but I think we all know this meeting is related to all those refugees,” Kenn stated as the sound of gunfire from topside echoed. “We’re not safe here.”
“Then we’ll go further east,” someone shouted from the rear of the four hundred people crammed into the largest cavern on the second floor. Later, it would once again be the mess, but right now, it held enough people to make even the Miller boys feel the claustrophobia that many of their builders had complained of.
“No, north!”
“East!”
Kenn resumed control. “The boss will tell us the safest places and we’ll vote like we always do.”
Angela walked to the front and the crowd went still and quiet, waiting. Some were tense, a few were glaring, and her mind went straight to the 17%.
“Always a margin of error,” she muttered, making those who heard it worry more.
Kenn stayed by the table as Angela hopped up to stand on top of it. Her other guards came closer and Marc subtly gestured for the snipers mixed into the crowd to stay alert.
Angela held up a thin stack of paper. “Neil and Jeremy printed these from the satellites. They’re images of Yellowstone. It did blow. We were right.”
She handed the pictures to Kenn, who studied each one before he passed them around. The last graph showed a curving, narrow plume of something reaching from the volcano all the way to Maine and beyond. Kenn assumed it was the volcanic cloud.
“We’ve been getting the ash mixed with snow and that’ll hang around for a couple more weeks, but that’s not the problem,” Angela warned her herd. “The problem is the effects.”
Angela gave them a minute to view the images, studying thoughts. Even those who hadn’t voted for her were confident that she had a plan. “In the areas around Yellowstone, they can’t grow food or raise any livestock. They had to get on the road to survive and we know how that was for the last nine months. There is another wave of extinction happening across our country and starvation is leading it. Now, all those desperate refugees are coming to the light in the darkness. To the safe haven we’ve all helped create.”
Angela stared at their shocked, dumbfounded expressions in sympathy. “I’ve estimated we could get as many as five thousand over the next three months. After that, we’ll all starve together.”
The camp erupted in a loud clamor to deny entrance to any more survivors. Some calls were for mercy, but the majority could predict how ugly things would get. Safe Haven couldn’t support one thousand people, let alone five times that.
Marc wondered why Angela hadn’t told them the number could be much, much higher. Was she afraid of the camp fleeing now?
“We’ll hole up in here!”
“We’re fighters. They don’t know who they’re messing with!”
“Those are our people!” Samantha shouted angrily at the crowd. Her suspension was forgotten as she scolded them. “Stop being selfish!”
Angela put a hand on her gun as Marc came to her side and the crowd gradually quieted down. The small reminder of authority eased some of the concern. Safe Haven had descendants. These other groups didn’t.
“Some of them may have their own special people,” Angela warned, disabusing that notion. “Not all of those who were called came to us. Some of them couldn’t and others chose not to. They’re not all our kind and we’re being careful of those we do take in.”
“Close the gates!”
“I
t’s murder to leave them out there!”
“We don’t have the room or the food!”
Angela held up a hand to stop the shouts. “We’ll get it all out now. We have three problems from this. The first one and the largest, is too many people for this shelter. The second is possible starvation. This first winter isn’t going to be over in March or even June. It’s going to be cold, and it’s going to snow. Even without all those new people, we’d still have to be very careful with our rations and the hunting teams will be tripled. We’ll use seed vitamins and everyone will grow food, but in the end, it may still not be enough. There’s no guarantee our plants will grow underground and even the thought of carting a thousand pound cow into this cave makes my balls shrink up.”
The levity wasn’t just for them. Angela was intimidated by the chore. “The third problem is location. Anyone can spend a few months in a cave and survive with the right supplies. We’re talking about a year and that will lead to a new list of illnesses we can’t treat right now. I’ve estimated that only half of this camp will come out of these mountains next year.”
In another part of the cave, the new refugees that had been admitted listened in concern, unsure if they would be ejected even though they’d been cleared. Among the hundred people, were the Amish and Brittani’s clan. Shane was lingering in the tunnels between them and the mess hall, still hoping to catch her attention.
The crowd continued to argue and worry. Her predictions had never been wrong. Angela denied the Eagles who would have stepped in to settle them down. Everyone was right to be scared.
